Another Perfect Wonder
by Shiro Ryuu
Summary: Our favorite ancient, evil, kleptomanic prettyboy decides that he wants to go bird watching in the snow. A Bakura introspective with Ryou as a sounding board, some shonenai.


**AN:** Written after I decided that the movie 'Troy' was simply too dull and soap-operatic for words even _with_ the prettyboys, and that I was going to walk due south for an hour and see what I found instead. I really should've been working on 'Eternal Light'. I could've at least been working on that Otogi/Kaiba. I really _really_ should've been working on my college application, heh. I'm probably going to be scorned for this, since waxing poetic about nature is so totally unfashionable; I don't think most people, at least my age, have ever actually gone so far into the wilderness that there was no one else in sight, let alone enjoyed it. Maybe some baby boomer will enjoy this, instead...? XD Well, with that thought in mind (okay, not really, but it's a nice bonus?), I'm afraid to say that the rating is _completely_ for Bakura's potty-mouth; because it's so fanon anyway, I'm working under the premises that they've already established a comfortable relationship (thus taking the emphasis somewhat off that aspect of the story). The only other possible warning is for Bakura's OOCness (well, he _tries_ to hide it). Other than that, if at all possible, you should listen to the Red Hot Chili Pepper's 'Snow Hey-Oh' while reading this; I think this story had been lurking in my subconscious ever since I heard it, and the title is a tribute to this.

* * *

'Have you ever been really alone?'

_You mean 'lonely'...?_

'No, not that kind of alone, dipshit. I don't mean the kind where you can be alone in a room full of people; haven't you already heard so much about that kind that you're sick of it? I mean like _this_. No one else as far as you can see, free to do whatever you want...'

_Actually, now that you mention it, I think I can see a house waaaay over there-_

'...even if all you want to do is just stand there with a dumb look on your face...'

_-and also, do you realize that we're probably trespassing right now?_

Bakura snorted. 'Oh, please. If someone sees you, just say 'hello'. Tell them you're bird-watching or some shit like that. If you just act like you're supposed to be here, they'll probably believe you.'

A contemplative silence settled inside the rather over-crowded mind of Ryou Bakura, and the quiet within allowed him to turn his attentions outward. He had finally given in to the demand that his yami had been making for weeks now, and had taken a trip into the country. Admittedly he had taken it quite slowly, stopping on Bakura's command to investigate interesting gullies and trees and suchlike, and the snow had impeded him even more, but they had left their car at least an hour ago. He would've been quite worried about ever getting back to it at this point, if he hadn't happened to have the spirit of a professional tomb robber living in his head.

They stood at the top of one of the never-ending small rolling hills in a fairly clear area, staring down at the valley below and the forest that picked up again on the opposite side. The forest extended in leaps and bounds for miles to the horizon, and there was no other sign of human life to be seen... well, except for what was possibly one house waaaay over there... This was not to say that the quiet was total, however; bird-watching would have made for a very good excuse indeed, as the field was full of them, fluttering in and out of the white-encrusted waist-high grass in search of precious calories. Ryou focused on them for a while before murmuring, _Yami-kun...?_

'What?'

_...I'm very cold..._

Another scoff. 'You friggin' baby! It got colder than this in the desert, in the nighttime. It's healthy.'

_Then why aren't you out here **enjoying**__it?_ he wondered acidly.

'Because I don't have to be,' the spirit sniggered.

_I'm not talking to you anymore._

'Pfft.'

A rather more huffy silence came between them for a bit. Eventually Ryou sighed. _So, what you said a minute ago, about being alone... you mean this reminds you of the desert? **This?** It's all trees, not to mention the snow..._

'It's more like the desert than the city is...'

_Well, I suppose I can understand that._

Bakura stared through Ryou's eyes for a long time. '...don't you wish you could just stay here forever?'

Ryou chuckled. _In this cold?_ he said, but gently.

'But what if it **wasn't** cold?' Bakura demanded earnestly. 'I mean, what are you thinking about right now?'

_I-I suppose... I'm thinking about how pretty it is... and how far it goes..._

'Exactly! I'll bet ever since we came out here, you haven't thought anything about your Christmas break homework-'

_-crap, why'd you have to-?_

'-or any of the gossip in school, or anything. Puts things in perspective, doesn't it?'

Ryou thought about this for a long moment, stamping his feet softly. _I suppose it does,_ he said with a quiet laugh. _So you think that, if everybody just came out to the country more often, they wouldn't be so self-centered?_

'That's part of it,' Bakura murmured. 'But I think it has more to do with being alone like this. I don't think just being alone in your room really helps. When you're alone in the city, well, even if you tell yourself it's your choice, you might start feeling sorry for yourself... But when you come out here, not just to be alone but to _do_ something, to see this...'

Ryou laughed at him. _How cute,_ he thought, and was temporarily overwhelmed by a string of Egyptian curses. _It's just that I've never heard you sound so poetic._

'Poetic?-! What the fuck? If you're gonna say shit like that, that's the last time-'

_And **anyway**_, Ryou continued over him, _there's a flaw in your logic. I'm not alone._

'Yeah,' Bakura said off-handedly, 'but I'm not some idiot trying to distract you. And if you think you're gonna get away with calling me girlie shit that easy-'

Their bickering eventually tapered off into another quiet spell. Privately - because these thoughts were not the kind he wanted to share with Ryou when he was laughing silently to himself into the wind and brushing white snow out of his white hair - Bakura wondered, did a view like this once help him to see things more clearly, too...?

Yes... it had told him, the sands had told him that he could not give up now because he still had a burden to bear. Clearly there had been something wrong with the world, beyond the beauty, and it had seemed that perhaps only someone with nothing more to lose could fix it... so, had he been _lied_ to...?

_Yami-kun,_ Ryou said, in his gentle, kind tones. _I think we should go home now, it's getting late. What do you think about having hot soup for dinner?_

Bakura laughed, so deep inside himself that it was silent too. Ah, what had he been thinking, bringing someone like this out here? Of course he was not about to experience an epiphanic moment of healing... when this pure white snow was clearly his natural element...

As they walked back down the hill, Bakura took form at Ryou's side. The hikari gave a delighted little laugh and took his hand slyly, shyly, until they reached the forest and the dense trees forced them apart.

_**Owari**_


End file.
